A Dual World

“1984” by George Orwell, published in 1949, was one of those books of the so-called dystopian literature, which reached several generations who were captivated by the aesthetics of existentialism’s sombre tones, Pink Floyd’s chords and the “somas” of the time.

Orwel recreated “Brave new world” written by another British writer. In this 1932 novel, Aldous Huxley, through Bernard Marx, showed a Marxism that represented the spark of intelligence, as opposed to a cold Leninism at the service of society as a whole, symbolized by Lenina Crowne.

But Orwell, with his “Big Brother” left behind his ideological nuances in order to expose “The Big Guardian State” be it fascist or communist. At that time, it was only the communist, because fascism had become a project recently wiped out by the Allied Forces, or at least that is how things stood. The only thing left to do, was to overcome the second totalitarianism that was choking mankind and that led to the “Cold War” which lasted until the early 90’s and saw its end with the coming down of the Berlin Wall and the partial breakdown of the USSR.

Beyond literature, in this period humanity rendered itself unconstrained by certain involutional absurdities. Fiddling around with its recent radioactive discoveries, humanity forgot to address her own mystery and everything there was to learn from an active observation of nature.

As a result, the world turned out to be extremely violent. Millions succumbed to a new totalitarianism that went unnoticed, covered up by a layer of freedom and hedonism, and whose potential had no limits or boundaries.

The painful part of the matter was experienced by the victims of hundreds of military interventions, under covered coups and terrorist actions generated by the USA in the name of freedom, rock & roll, humanitarianism or democracy. Four years later, after the attack of the Imperial Japanese Navy in Pearl Harbor, it also acted voluntarily through vengeance by dropping bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Subsequently it was denied that it was due to revenge, which was the icing on a miserable cake, but the cake of innocent civilian victims will remain forever.

“Revenge” has also been the central plot to most of Hollywood productions; shooting while firing, generation after generation; that feeling that there is something unresolved that should be forever compensated, within the eternal return, stoking a false victimhood in order to experience the pleasure of revenge, again. In American society, this works inversely like an “original sin”; it is the world that is at fault and not the chosen people of America. That is why the concept of “racial supremacy” is not only limited to the Nazi historical episode.

During the 20th century the US builds its empire on the basis of military hegemony. It has around 1,000 military bases, distributed in 100 different countries in five continents; it has weapons and troops to act massively anywhere in the world and its military budget is 41% of the world’s total. In addition, it has the supreme command of NATO under its leadership, giving it military mandate over 28 of the world’s most developed nations.

The current repercussions of this legacy is humanity’s postponement and the unnecessary suffering of millions. So we come to our current times with our way of life, based on a “dystopia” that surpasses by far those foreseen intuitively by the futurist novelists.

As a paradox of fate, the emerging movements of several impoverished countries of today’s Europe are calling for a “Big Guardian State” that cares by providing the population with basic necessities as opposed to a weak state controlled by supranational corporations.

It is precisely states approaching totalitarianism, such as China – whether defined as communist or capitalist or both- or the new 21st century Russia, or the inflexible North Korea, who have some ability to stop the enormous machinery of the Atlantic alliance on the ground.

The vigilant situation taken by Russia and her allies, is becoming increasingly stressful, after observing the devastating consequences suffered by Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa in a relatively short period of time that coincided with Russia’s decline and recovery periods in which her internal and external affairs went beyond her capacity to react, at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st.

Now Russia is trying to prevent her own destruction, and it is not a matter of choice, it is not a question of championing a particular “utopia” or “dystopia”, but a question of survival. (2)

But beyond the dominant violence that surrounds a large part of our lives, there is another kind of humanity with evolutive characteristics, that despite everything, is committed to progress in many fields, passing also through the spiritual. It is like there were something undefined that is the purpose of our species.

I ask myself: Do we have a purpose or not? Because we are always engaged in destruction – and ultimately natural or unnatural death awaits all of us – or perhaps we have a purpose that goes beyond our individual life. Here we find ourselves facing a “yes” or a “no”

To assess this possibility, the sages recommended to go along other paths, differing from those of reason, and nearer to identifying ourselves with others and sincere compassion. In doing so, we might not find a place for hatred and revenge any more, but just a concern to contribute at another level within such a primitive period as the one we are living in.

About The Author

Javier Belda
Has directed several media outlets since 1996 as a humanist journalist. His blog is dedicated to geopolitical analysis. For Pressenza, Javier publishes with the Barcelona and Cuba teams. Contact: javier.belda@pressenza.com